Veteran Communist Leader N Sankaraiah stood overwhelmed when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin visited him at his house to greet him on his 100th birthday on July 15 and again on August 14 to honour him with Thagaisal Tamizhar Virudhu (Distinguished Tamil)

The DMK government instituted the new award to honour an eminent personality who has contributed a great deal to the welfare of Tamil Nadu and development of the Tamil community and rightly chose the Communist Centenarian. The award carried a cash prize of Rs 10 lakhs and a citation. The Veteran leader donated the cash prize for Covid-19 relief works.

The DMK government instituted the new award to honour an eminent personality who has contributed a great deal to the welfare of Tamil Nadu and development of the Tamil community and rightly chose the Communist Centenarian. The award carried a cash prize of Rs 10 lakhs and a citation. The Veteran leader donated the cash prize for Covid-19 relief works.

Later he involved himself into intense political activities, participated in the freedom struggle of India and was arrested for the first time in 1941. Mr Sankaraiah spent nearly 8 years in jail during the long spanning political career of over 70 years and was one among the seven communists who was released from jail just a day before Independence in August 1947.

Later, he became one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and was one of the 32 National Council Members who walked out from CPI at the National Council meeting held in April 1964. He played the role of an eminent member of the TN Legislative Assembly after getting elected from Madurai west and Madurai east assembly constituencies in the 1967, 1977 and 1980 elections.

The Lawyer aspirant was arrested in 1946 along with other Communist leaders and was implicated in what was known as the Madurai conspiracy case. After his release in 1947 he went underground for 3 years from 1948 when the Communist Party was banned. As a state secretariat member for CPI(M) from 1964 and State Secretary to CPI(M) from 1995 to 2002, he believed in integrating culture into political movements and was also instrumental in conducting cultural programmes at CPI(M) meetings.

As he was attached to E.V.R. Periyar’s Selfrespect movement, he encouraged inter-caste marriages and visualised a casteless society for holistic progress. Living by his principles, he refused to receive both Central Government and State Government Pension for freedom fighters even though he was eligible and he still practices what he preached, serving as a beacon for leaders all over the world.